a blog about movies and politics by noah gittell

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Monthly Archives: July 2012

Last week, we looked at the odd casting of “The Butler,” an upcoming film about a White House butler who served seven consecutive presidential administrations. We have already fixed the casting problems with the Eisenhowers and the Kennedys. Today, we look at LBJ and the Reagans. Lyndon Johnson Who they Cast: Liev Schreiber Who they…

There is a YouTube video that made the rounds after the pilot episode of “The Newsroom” that demonstrated how writer/creator Aaron Sorkin likes to reuse his best lines. This video was an arrow in the quiver of those critics who sought to take down “The Newsroom” from the beginning – only a hack would reuse…

A few months ago, I questioned the wisdom of casting Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan in the upcoming Lee Daniels film, “The Butler.” Fonda is a fine actress and, all things being equal, is up to the challenge of playing Reagan, but it seems clear that her personal politics will be distracting. As the film’s…

I remember this feeling from “The West Wing.” A great episode of that show – and of any Sorkin show – was so tightly crafted. Current events blend seamlessly into character arcs. Seemingly random conversations from early in the episode find their way into the denouement. I find myself feeling real joy as the show…

Warning: Minor spoilers ahead. No movie exists in a vacuum. Every film is subject to political interpretations and various levels of expectations. This is especially true for the so-called “serious film,” which injects social, political, or cultural criticism into an art form created for the masses. For the American viewing public, “The Dark Knight Rises”…

NOTE: This post has been updated from its original content. Critics of HBO’s “The Newsroom” – and there have been many of them – have chided the show’s writer-creator Aaron Sorkin for being too preachy. These criticisms have come from both the right and the left. The Wall Street Journal wrote that “preening virtue…weighs on…

NOTE: Although I try to maintain my objectivity, I cannot escape the fact that my personal political positions sometimes color my analysis. To ensure that this site maintains a well-rounded political perspective, it is useful for us to consider the opinions of others. To that end, this is the first Guest Column on Reel Change,…